I'm trying not to worry too much, but the PA wants him to get evaluated for early intervention. But it is only based off a few questions from the ASQ. Like he doesn't know a lot of objects. I think he knows what a toothbrush is when I say toothbrush, but he doesn't know what a ball is. I dunno, I think part of it might be that she doesn't know what she is talking about. I think he might be starting to understand what a dog is.

Does it matter what language you use? I also wouldn't worry about it unless there were other issues.

Not that I am aware of. I almost only speak English to him and my husband speaks Spanish. People used to think bilingualism could cause language delays but not so much anymore. He's got some gross motor stuff too, but the OT said that's because he is on the low-normal side of muscle tone. She didn't seem that concerned about the motor stuff compared to the language stuff which was weird because he scored worse on that than communication.

Is everyone saying mama and dada by now? (we are actually going with papa for daddy, which I think is a little harder to say) He doesn't say either.

Malka said nothing but "ball" until like 14 months. Now she has like a million words.I was thinking with the language that he may just deal with the objects on the test more in one language than another.

Well, we are working with a program that does home visits and developmental evaluations and I really like the lady we work with. She was not as concerned, which is reassuring. At our next meeting I asked if we could go over what is normal for his age. Hopefully that visit will either reassure me or make it easier to decide to get a more full evaluation. My husband is leery about getting him evaluated because he himself got evaluated for something really stupid and it left a bad taste in his mouth.

Yeh, our baby at just over a year has about six words, assuming you know what he's trying to say. We can tell when he's trying to communicate, though, and he points and stuff and makes some sort of vague signs. But if you didn't know he was trying to communicate you might just think it was some kind of baby waggling dance thing.

In my experience, receptive language delays are a little more concerning than expressive language delays. A lot of babies aren't talking at all by a year, but most can understand simple things and can follow simple instructions. Does he understand words that you use often?

The biggest question I would have is what interventions could they do for a baby so young. There is no point in an evaluation if they don't have interventions for his age.

I have a daughter with autism and a neurotypical son. I know what it's like to need to go down the road of early intervention and needing services for a kid. I'd be glad to answer any questions you have if you do think you need to go that route.

Yeh, our baby at just over a year has about six words, assuming you know what he's trying to say.

Annoying, he still mostly doesn't say "Mama" unless he is desperately upset. Occasionally he'll address me as "Amma" when he's in a good mood. Daddy? He's had that down for months.

But yeah. I think you're right and it sounds like the concern is receptive speech. If I were in your shoes, I would go ahead and do an evaluation with EI. Best case scenario? They say he doesn't have a problem and the pediatrician was overly concerned and blah bah. But if something IS causing problems for him, you know right away and can take steps to help him.

L didn't have a lot of words at a year, and like Malka, had a language explosion after that. Carlos is in in an awesome daycare right? Have you heard from them that there are any issues? I'd imagine that they would see him interacting with kids his own age and have an idea if he was lagging in any areas.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

The program is birth to three, I just don't know what SLP interventions they have for a kid that young. My DD didn't start with them until 2, so I just don't have experience with services for kids that young.

When I did call for an evaluation, the first step was doing a phone screening. If you are worried at all, you can always call and just speak with the screener to get a better sense of where he is versus where he should be.

Well, I am still mad at the daycare. They are great in many respects, but had some poor tact when bringing this to our attention. We were there to do his 12 month evaluation with our parent educator (the one we like, not associated with the daycare) and when we showed up, the teacher had already done one and started going into her concerns in a meeting with us and the director. It was especially upsetting because his 10 month eval was so good and I was looking forward to doing the 12 month one and she just ambushed me with it. She also was missing a lot of stuff he was actually doing. We did another one with our parent educator (I don't really know what else to call her) and it was better, but still not great, so when he got more shots we talked to the doctor about it.

The program is birth to three, I just don't know what SLP interventions they have for a kid that young. My DD didn't start with them until 2, so I just don't have experience with services for kids that young.

When I did call for an evaluation, the first step was doing a phone screening. If you are worried at all, you can always call and just speak with the screener to get a better sense of where he is versus where he should be.

That might be helpful (a phone screening). I am worried about whether or not to be worried.

I would do the hearing test asap (did he have one as a newborn? I was told that the newborn test could detect moderate or more hearing loss, but that with a deaf family member (albeit distant) I should consider retesting at 1 year. I don't have any reason to suspect hearing problems, though, and never did it).

One of my best friends has a daughter who was maxing out every other milestone on the checklists but behind on a lot of the verbal ones, and she was about to call a speech therapist around 1 year when her daughter still wasn't babbling, and then she suddenly started a week later. Now she's two and is converging to normal--her speech has improved dramatically just in the last couple of months.

What is your own sense of how well he's understanding things? Vi, for example, does not have very clear speech, but I can tell she understands almost everything I'm saying. We got a lot of board books that were just animals and objects with names under then and did a lot of "can you point to the elephant?" type games to teach her new words. Instructions are also a good way to test it. He's a little young to follow them but you can always try! In the 15-18 month time V started being able to follow instructions like "bring this to daddy" or "can I please have the book?" or "Go get your shoes."

He loves books. He points to pictures of animals in his books and waits for me to respond. I try to pair it with an appropriate toy or pet if possible. In the last two days he has seemed to point at the dog while playing with his dog flashcard, but that is with me pointing at the dog a bunch and saying dog a million times. Is he copying me or does he get that it is the dog? I think he is starting to get it, especially since he seems pretty excited about it. It's hard to tell though.

My friends have kids who have done early intervention (like DEG around 2), and they felt like it made a big difference. And apparently in Texas its free for the under three set, but not covered once the child is older (and ends up being about $120 a session).

I hope you get good answers from the audiologist, and find a clear way forward and lots of good support. Its always so hard to hear that our little ones may be experiencing some challenges, and even harder when it is unclear what is best for them. (((Hugs)))

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

Is everyone saying mama and dada by now? (we are actually going with papa for daddy, which I think is a little harder to say) He doesn't say either.

I think 1 is pretty early to be talking. Raygold could say several words at 1 and everybody acted like it was unbelievable.We were told that there should only be some concern if a child can't speak 8 words by age 2. I always tell this to people when they are worried about speech delays -- Beetroot pretty much didn't talk* until he was 2-1/2 and now he never shuts up. And when he did start talking, we realised he could also read a few words. So late talking isn't necessarily a big cause for concern.

My cousin was a late talker and at 3-1/2 started talking in complete, perfect sentences. My nephew is about 3 and just starting to talk and nobody was fussed about it. I think the medical opinions on talking and late-talking must really vary because parents seem to be given such a wide variety of conflicting information.

* I remember he was saying ad-ad-ad for dad at maybe 16 months and at maybe 20-22 months, he could say go-go (dog), mo-mo (more boobie)**, nyehhhh (done)**, ah-yite (light), and a few other words, similarly mispronounced. But mostly, he just followed me around like a little silent friend.

** These were accompanied by the signs we taught him, that's how I knew what they meant.

We started early intervention at almost 2 years old and are so thankful for it. For Silas, it made (and is still making) a world of difference.

My advice would be to do the evaluation. It will either give you peace of mind, or lead you in the right direction for help. It's really easy, basically just 20 minutes of guided play. So much better than worrying!

we also went into EI quite early, basically from birth. not sure what they might do but if there is a problem, the sooner you have a handle on it the better, as Kelly says.As for what they can actually do, i think a hearing eval is a good start.